I’m Alan Sherwood. I have worked with people experiencing a range of issues such as loss, grief, anxiety, addiction, low self-esteem or confidence and depression. My own life hasn’t always been that straightforward, there wasn’t a clear plan for me. I’d been written off as ‘not very bright, won’t amount to much’. I had painfully low confidence and poor self-esteem and I was gay in a small rural village. But somewhere deep inside me I knew that wasn’t how it had to be and I could change it. These experiences have helped make me into a counsellor that values openness and